Designing Your Character & Other Handy Things

Abandoned Places

So you might want one of your characters to hang around an abandoned place... well here are some you might find useful.... If you want to know more you can research these places:

1. Aral Desert, Kazakhstan/Uzbekistan

This post apocalyptic scene was brought to you by overpopulation. Once the fourth largest body of water in the world, the sea was over-fished and irrigated down to 10% of it’s former volume, spread over 3 small lakes and leaving large swathes of desert in its wake.

2. Año Nuevo Island, California

This 9 acre spit of land off the coast of Northern California has been largely abandoned since the 19th century, probably due to the island’s regular use as a major breeding site for Northern Elephant seals, Steller’s sea lions, and a myriad of seabirds.

3. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine

Hope for the land surrounding Chernobyl in the wake of the 1986 catastrophe has come in the form of wildlife rapidly repopulating the region. In fact, due to the zone’s closure for the next 20,000 years, ground zero and the surrounding forests have turned into something of a wildlife refuge for all kinds of native flora and fauna.

4. Around abandoned poison gas factory, Japan

The tiny island of Okunoshima, Japan was once the home of a major Japanese chemical weapons research and manufacture base during WWII. After the war, the plant was destroyed, and the rabbits that were held there for testing were released, and subsequently reproduced like rabbits do.

5. Kolmanskop, Namibia

One of the most photographed desert ghost towns in the world, Kolmanskop was originally a mining village, and become a prosperous diamond mining town. Once the mines were exhausted, the town was abandoned in 1954, and reclaimed by the desert and most notably, the rare Namib horse.

6. Abandoned apartment, Thailand

From small homes to skyscrapers, large swaths of Thailand exist today as works-in-progres never finished. And to make the scene stranger, it’s one of the few places in the world where there are elephants in the urban environment, ridden by humans on populated streets alongside cars.

7. Dungeness Ruins, Georgia

The ruins of a once-famous hunting lodge and mansion changed hands several times between 1736 and 1959, when it was destroyed by a fire after the Carnegie family left in the ‘20’s. Today, it is owned by the National Park service, and local wildlife roam free and graze there regularly.

8. Sunken Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Florida

Once active as a naval transport ship, the USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg was used regularly during the 1940’s, the ship moved from dock to dock until 2009, when it was purposefully sunk to create the world’s second largest artificial reef.

9. Fukushima, Japan

During the evacuation of the prefecture after the earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster, Fukushima residents were forced to leave their pets behind… an estimated 10,000 animals. Today, a wide variety of wildlife (including a bizarre boar-pig hybrid) which survived the aftermath roam the streets, eating the 3 tons of food left for them by the Rescuing Animals in Fukushima foundation each week.

10. Roman Colosseum, Italy

The once-famous home of the gladiatorial games is now a major tourist destination for those visiting Rome, and the home to over 200 stray cats. Abandoned since the 10th century, the monstrous basement of the Colosseum has slowly been accruing families of cats for longer than anyone can remember.

11. Abandoned house in the woods, Finland

After dying in a fire, these cottages near Kai Fagerstrom’s home became abandoned. It was not long before they were reclaimed by the extensive wildlife that live in this forest in Finland.

12. Holland Island, Chesapeake Bay

Once entertaining 360 inhabitants, the tides turned on this massive island in Chesapeake Bay in 1914, and it began to erode aggressively back into the sea. Shortly thereafter, the island was abandoned, whittled down to this last house which collapsed in October, 2010.

13. The Infamous Abandoned Shopping Mall, Bangkok

The New World Shopping Mall in Bangkok has been abandoned since 1999, when a fire left the building beyond repair. After flooding with several feet of water, many believe the koi and catfish that now live there were introduced to the large urban pond, and were allowed to populate it freely.

14. Huaca Pucllana, Peru

The ruins of the great adobe city of Huaca Pucllana have been abandoned since about 900 AD, and are today the site of ongoing archaeological research, and the home of several rare Peruvian Hairless dogs. Through a bizarre initiative tested first at Huaca Pucllana in 1989, all archaeological sites in the country are now required to keep at least a pair of the dogs in an effort to prevent their extinction